What advice do you have for someone looking to improve their credit score?

Lots of free info on the net, but at a bare minimum pay early and extra on any credit card(s) you may have. A 6 month to 1 year period of that on every account will help your credit. Get a free credit report and you will then know what you are dealing with. Some find things on their report that are erroneous, so check that and correct any that apply. It's good to understand the things that determine your FICO score and work them to maximize the effect. If you have many accounts, consider combining them so you only have one credit payment to focus on. You can do that by finding a new card that has zero fees to transfer balances to, a good % rate, and no annual fee. Then transfer all totals to the new card. You can use an existing card but unless it has free transfer you will have a lot of fees. Credit utilization factors into FICO, so you don't want to exceed the 30% threshold to help your score (example - $300 balance on a $1000 credit limit). The number of accounts you have is also a factor of FICO score so look before you leap to a new card. How long you have had your accounts also factor into FICO, so don't close accounts without looking at the impact first. Start by understanding FICO and go from there. After that, a year of steady and timely payments can make a lot of difference. I know a young professional that went from FICO of mid 500 range to mid 700s in approx. 1.5 years by doing these things. There are more factors but the main ones are age of accounts, utilization rate, number of accounts, and payment history. See bottom link. Good luck.


https://www.myfico.com/
https://www.creditcards.com/top-credit-cards.php
https://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/help/5-parts-components-fico-credit-score-6000.php

Pay your bills on time. Don't apply for a bunch of different credit all at once that you don't need. Have a credit card that is paid off every month if used. Don't get more credit then you can't manage. Save for a good down payment and have extra cash flow that you put into savings before you think about buying a house. Make sure that you keep some money away that you can get to if you need it.

Record every dollar you spend for at least 1 month
Decide where you might be spending money on things you don't need or receive any benefit from
Develop a budget allowing for necessary expenses (food, clothing, shelter, transportation, taxes), savings, charitable giving, paying off credit cards and other unsecured debt, and a little fun
Follow the budget as closely as possible
Get at least 3 months of necessary expenses in savings, more if you can
Pay off the credit cards and close the accounts

If you're married, include your spouse in every step listed above. This has to be a team effort or it won't work. If you are cohabitating, try the team approach; however, keep finances separate so you keep control of your credit score.

Good personal accounting software helps a lot. Makes things like balancing a checkbook easy. I recommend Quicken, but there are other products on the market that work as well.